News item: The White Sox fired manager Pedro Grifol on Thursday. Here's the team's announcement.

What's missing from that announcement? Why, who's going to replace Grifol for the last 45 games of the White Sox' 2024 season. Later this morning, they did name an interim guy, and fired some coaches:

For those coaches, this might wind up being a relief, not having to be around if/when the Sox set all kinds of loss records.

All of this is just one more chapter in the weird history of the recent White Sox, and you'll forgive me for an article here about the Cubs' crosstown rivals, but given the Cubs are heading to the South Side this weekend, the Grifol news, and the fact that the Sox appear headed to the worst season in MLB history, it seems timely.

About Grifol, he seemed over his head when he was first hired, and after the Sox got one-hit by the Orioles May 26, he offered this about his players:

Pardon the profanity posted in a story here, but that's what he said to the media. What manager does that? Privately? Maybe, but not in public. And one of his players responded:

That game was the Sox' fifth loss in a row and dropped them to 15-39. which is pretty bad. They would lose nine more before they'd win again, and of course you know about the 21-game losing streak they just ended in Oakland the other day.

Since that game the Sox are 13-50. Think they might have quit on their manager?

The White Sox' troubles began, I think, when they took a pretty good pandemic season team that finished 35-25 and won the AL Central under Rick Renteria, and dismissed Renteria in favor of Jerry Reinsdorf's buddy Tony La Russa. At the time this was said to be some sort of favor from Reindsorf to TLR because TLR had been fired in 1986 by Ken Harrelson, who Reinsdorf had inexplicably moved from the broadcast booth to the general manager's office (another clueless move by the Sox owner). Never mind that La Russa won multiple World Series as a manager, was a "Hall of Fame baseball person" (okay, I had to) and had been retired from a field job for a decade.

The Sox won the AL Central again in 2021 with a 93-win season, the most they'd won since their World Series year in 2005, though they lost a division series to the Astros. With solid young players they seemed on the brink of a dynasty.

But they likely won that division title in spite of La Russa, not because of him. They had a flat 2022, TLR resigned in August, ostensibly for "health reasons," and Miguel Cairo finished off the year as interim manager. He might have made a nice choice for the fulltime job, but the Sox chose Grifol, one more guy they'd bring over from the Royals, after Chris Getz became director of player development and later assistant GM to Rick Hahn.

Grifol's White Sox had a disastrous April 2023, including a 10-game losing streak. By the time Reinsdorf finally fired Hahn and Kenny Williams in August, they were deep in fourth place in their division, saved from the basement only by the woeful Royals, who lost 106 games last year. (And with a couple of good free-agent signings and Bobby Witt Jr., are now contending for a wild card.) The Sox' young talent imploded, particularly Tim Anderson, who only a few years after finishing seventh in AL MVP voting, is now out of baseball entirely.

Of course, you know what's happened this year to the White Sox, the results have been all over social media and I don't need to repeat them all here, though one of my favorites is: The Cubs have won five games since Aug. 1. The Sox have won five games since... June 29.

Getz seems lost as a baseball executive. He made some deadline deals this year, but decided to hang on to Garrett Crochet and Luis Robert Jr., perhaps his best trade chips. Crochet's agent made things worse by saying Crochet wouldn't move to the bullpen if traded and didn't want to play in the postseason unless he got a contract extension.

I mean... who does that?

And in the context of all this, Reinsdorf had the nerve to try to hit up the city and state for over $1 billion to help him build a new stadium. (Hint: No.)

The Sox are 28-89 (.239) entering tomorrow's series opener against the Cubs on the South Side. They would have to go 14-31 (.311) over their final 45 games to avoid setting the modern era record for losses, currently held by the 1962 Mets. I suppose that's possible, but not the way the Sox have played since the end of June. Since their last three-game winning streak, which ended June 29, the Sox are 4-28. (During the same span, the Cubs are 18-15.) If they keep playing at a .239 percentage, they will go 39-123. If they finish 38-124 or worse, they'd also set the modern record for worst winning percentage, currently held by the 1916 Philadelphia A's (36-117, .235). They seem years away from contending again.

Really, this is an embarrassment to baseball and Reinsdorf should get out of the game, sell now while there are still likely deep-pocketed groups in Chicago who would love to buy the team and keep it in Chicago, as opposed to the veiled threats Reinsdorf has made about moving to Nashville. I have lots of friends who are Sox fans and I feel bad for them; their ownership and management have sold them a bill of goods. Unsolicited advice to any deep-pocketed billionaire who does eventually buy the White Sox: On Day 1, fire everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY. There seems a sickness in that organization from the top down that needs to be purged. It's worse than late-era Wrigley ownership of the Cubs. Those folks were just clueless. Sox management in many ways seems actively mean-spirited.

So there's your context for the two Cubs/Sox games coming up this weekend. Often, a team will play better after the firing of a manager like this, and the Cubs need to be ready for that. The Cubs are the superior team and should win both games, but they can't take this team lightly.